C'est la mort
by Queen Of Gabb 488
Summary: She had thought that love could conquer all. Listening to the grand love stories of her mother and aunts had convinced her so from the time she was only a little girl. Now she knew the stories for what they truly were; lies, manipulations.
1. Prologue

The Halliwells had lived an almost blissful existence ever since the Ultimate battle had occurred, picking up the pieces that had been shattered while they had endeavored to lead normal lives during that tumultuous times. The friendships they had cherished; severed, had been mended and the three surviving sisters had found peace, purpose, and love in the years after.

Nothing had given the sisters more purpose than their roles as mothers. Piper had been blessed with a little girl just one year after vanquishing Christy. Now that she and her sisters could finally lead normal lives as they had before they had known they were Charmed, she named her daughter Prudence Melinda in honor of her sister who did not have the same opportunity.

Phoebe had married Coop only one month after facing the Jenkins sisters, in an intimate ceremony witnessed by her sisters and their husbands. For so long she had dreamed of what her wedding would be like; obsessed with her fairytale ending so much that it took meeting Coop to realize all of her mistakes with her past relationships. It was only through Coop that she had finally known all of the wisdom in Piper's words. It wasn't the wedding she should have been dreaming about, it was the man who would be waiting for her at the end of the aisle. It was their bond as husband and wife that had created three very special girls she had foreseen.

Paige and Henry decided to move closer to the Manor when they discovered she was pregnant with the twins. As luck would have it the Manor next door – which was once occupied by Piper's ex-boyfriend Dan—was for sale and because of the extent of the work that needed to be done to the house, they had been able to get it at a reduced price. Leo, Coop and Henry had done all of the repair work and for three months Paige felt as if she were going crazy with all the men underfoot, finally realizing how Leo must have felt for the last eight years. When it was all done the Bowen Manor shared the same glamorous splendor of the Halliwell manor. Four bedrooms and three bathrooms was definitely worth the monthly mortgage payments, even when little Henry was born two years and a half years later.

Life was nearly perfect as the sisters watched their children take their first steps and taught them all of the joys of magic. It was the childhood they had missed out on, with their entire family intact and the freedom of knowing exactly who they were. Witches.


	2. Fairy Tales

"Tell us again Aunt Piper," Patricia demanded. She and her sisters were spending the weekend while her parents took their annual honeymoon for their anniversary.

Paige's twins; Prentice and Priscilla, were there as well while their mother remained next door with Henry junior, who had a fever. "Yes," Priscilla begged. "Tell us again!"

The girls always asked to hear the same story, though Piper had more than enough ammunition to change it up and entertain the girls. Sitting on the couch while the girls sat by the fire, Piper began her tale. "Long ago, before any of you were born or even a thought in our heads, my sisters and I lived here in the Manor together. Your Aunt Prue was still alive and Paige was a secret still hidden from us.

"You see," Piper elaborated, "Your Grandmother was afraid for our well being, not only because a warlock named Nicholas wanted to steal our powers and had trapped her into giving him immunity to our powers, but because she had fallen in love with her whitelighter, Samuel—"

"Which was forbidden," Penny chimed in.

Laughing, Piper grinned at her sister's middle child; she was so like her mother. Phoebe had a habit of interrupting; preferring to tell the story than to listen. "Yes, and because they loved each other they made a baby," Piper tickled Penny, who giggle uncontrollably. "They were scared that the powers that be would somehow take her away from them and that the Charmed ones would be punished."

"Did Grandma Patty think they would take your magic away," Pearl asked.

"Yes, and so she gave your Aunt Paige to someone she knew would find the best family possible to raise her and love her in her absence. She bound all of our powers and gave us a very special gift. The chance to have a normal life," she told the girls. "Prue, Phoebe and I were able to grow up without any scary demons or warlocks coming after us.

"After Grams passed away, we all moved back into the Manor and discovered that we had very special powers. Prue could move things with her mind, Phoebe could see the future, and I could freeze time."

"And that's when you met Daddy," Mel said with a dreamy voice. "It was love at first sight."

"Yes," her mother agreed. "It was love at first sight, though your Aunt Phoebe thought she would give me a little competition."

"Ew," the twins yelled out and Pearl seemed outraged. "Momma liked Uncle Leo better than Daddy?"

"Well, back then your Mommy and Daddy didn't know each other, and Leo was very handsome," Piper explained.

"I'd marry Uncle Leo," Priscilla said. "He's the most handsomest man I've ever seen, besides Daddy."

Piper laughed, hugging the tiny girl to her and brushing her hair out of her face. "Someday, Pris. Someday you will meet a man as wonderful as your Uncle Leo and your Daddy will just hate it."

"Daddy says he's all we'll ever need," Prentice told her aunt. "We don't need to worry about no pesky boys."

"Remind me to tell your mother that he said that," Piper replied glibly. "Anyway, let me tell you about our first kiss…"


	3. Love Triangles

**A/N:** ...

* * *

"What was it like," Prentice asked her aunt Piper. At thirteen years old the girl was the spitting image of her mother, with dark brown hair and big brown eyes set against beautiful alabaster skin.

"What was _what_ like," Piper asked her niece as she prepared dinner. Henry and Paige were at the annual policeman's ball and the twins and Hank were spending the night.

"You know," the girl looked away and kicked her feet, "like, when you were in love with neighbor Dan and Uncle Leo at the same time?"

Piper stopped stirring the sauce and looked at her niece. It was the first time any of the kids had ever asked her anything like that. Sure, the girls had always begged to know about what life had been like when they first became Charmed and later when they met their husbands, but somehow their talks had always stayed on the brighter side of love. None of the sisters wanted to expose their children to the possibility of hurt before it was necessary.

"It was really hard. It was a time when your uncle and I knew we couldn't be together because it was forbidden and Dan was someone who I could just be a regular mortal with. The problem was that I couldn't share any of my magic with him though I wanted to," Piper explained.

"But Dad's a mortal," Prentice pointed out. "Why couldn't you tell him that you were a witch," she asked.

Piper turned down the gas on the stove and moved over to the refridgerator, grabbing the iced tea. "At the time, telling anyone about us was pretty much off the market. I had seen Prue deal with telling Andy and that didn't turn out well; I guess I thought that I guessed anyone who knew I was a witch wouldn't want me."

"So you pretended to be normal? Wasn't that hard?"

"Very," Piper said drinking her tea. "But I never really wanted to be a witch," she confided and saw the surprise on Prentice's face. "It was _scary, _and confusing for us. I wasn't raised as a witch," the eldest explained. "I craved that normal life that was taken from me and after I got over being afraid I got mad.

"I was mad that I had no choice in the matter, mad that I had to sacrifice my own wants and needs, and mad that no matter what I did, I had to worry about what the Elders were going to have to say about how I lived my life. Being with Dan was a chance for me to see how my life would have turned out like if I never became a witch."

"Did you love him more than Uncle Leo?"

Piper shook her head and then brushed her bangs back. "I have never loved anyone the way that I love Leo. He was always there in the back of my mind and something continued to draw me to him even when there was no hope or no willingness to pursue our relationship."

Prentice thought about it and then cocked her head to the side. Piper reached over and tucked a strand of her niece's dark brown hair behind her ear. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"Do you still love Dan," the thirteen year old asked.

Piper thought for a minute. "Yes. I think a part of me will always love him. He's someone who has followed me across my lifetimes and is truly just one of the best people I have ever met. But," she paused as she tried to figure out how to phrase this, "my heart has always and will always choose Leo. Being together; getting to finally live out our lives with one another, makes me realize that I am not _in love_ with anyone but him."

Prentice scowled, seemingly confused and Piper wondered again what had brought this topic on. "Is there something you want to discuss with me or maybe your Mom or Aunt Phoebe?"

Prentice shook her head before looking up. "Nah, Mom would just make a big fuss and Aunt Phoebe can't keep anything to herself," she replied. Piper laughed and took a sip of her tea. "But," Prentice said, "I guess I could ask you. I mean, you're the only one who ever got caught between two guys so you would know, right?"

Piper kind of smirked to herself as she looked at her niece through curious eyes. "Is this about a boy?"

"Kind of," Prentice replied. "Well, maybe two boys. I just don't understand them," the girl complained, exasperated. "Boone is my best friend and I think he likes me and I know I like him. But Sully is Boone's bully and he's always mean to me too."

"So if Sully is always mean to you, where does he fit into all of this?"

"Well, Sully's always mean to me when I'm with Boone, but he's been really nice to me whenever no one else is there. Like, he totally gave me half of his sandwich the other day when Becca Martin knocked me down and ruined my lunch but then when he saw me with Boone he called us Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde. Like we're crazy even though he's the one who acts like he has an alter personality."

"Sounds like Sully's just jealous of Boone because he likes you. Do you like him," Piper asked.

"Well, he's kind of cool when he's not being so mean. But then there's Boone and I don't get whether he likes me or not. He was talking about going to the dance but then didn't ask me."

"Well, maybe he was trying to see how you felt about it," her aunt suggested. "He's probably just scared and you should talk to him about it if you want to go with him, but it sounds to me like you're not really sure which boy you like."

"I like both of them, I just don't know which one I like more."

"Well, time will tell," Piper reassured her. "Sometimes you just need to look for the signs. Now go tell your cousins that it's time for dinner and to wash up.


End file.
